Battery-tale

I recently noticed that battery didn't have enough capacity to power the computer for 2 hours after fully charged. When I bought this laptop last June, the computer can be used for 4 hours without recharging. coconutBattery indicated that the battery capacity is now half of the original capacity. So I reckon I should request to have the battery replaced.

Justin had a problem having his battery replaced. He can't get his battery replaced without travelling to the other side of the globe and he argued that the world is not flat. Apple has a pretty good customer service track record in the states. Apparently, this really applies in the states only.

My strategy was to call Apple's technical support. To do that I have to purchase the AppleCare Protection Plan to extend the complimentary telephone support to 3 years. That costs about $2000, which is a pain in the ass. But I have to buy it anyway, so this is a good opportunity to do so.

The staff at the call centre were not helpful (damn!). What they did was to ask me a bunch of questions about battery conditions and my usage pattern, and tell me that "No, you can have the battery replaced." She suggested me to visit the authorised service centre (yes, there is only one) instead.

I took the battery and the computer to the service centre in Times Square. It was a small office. I'm surprised that so many Hong Kongers have bought so many iPods and Macs, what we deserve is a small office for customer service. It is a contractor's office, though. The staff offered to let me leave the battery for four days and it will be sent to Singapore for examination. This is the best I can get. Frankly, as long as they don't tell me to leave my computer with them, I am okay.

Finally, today I visited the service centre again and was glad to hear that they have the battery replaced. I walked out of the office with the brand new battery and as I am typing this, the battery was charged to the full.

They should have just sent me a replacement in the mail and I'll sent back the faulty one. This is such a prevalent practise in the states and Apple do that (in the states). Four days is still too much. I remembered once I took my ThinkPad to a service centre in Quarry Bay and they have the motherboard replaced in four hours. I doubt if Apple's service centre in Hong Kong do anything other than sending faulty units to Singapore.

I won't go so far as to declare that world is not flat.